This invention relates to an improved tour monitor system that can be used for example by a guard or night watchman to record the time at which various checkpoints on a tour are checked by the guard.
Tour monitors have advanced significantly since the early mechanical clocks which used paper tape recording systems to time stamp events of a tour. One class of modern tour monitors includes a bar code reader in a portable, hand-held device. Bar code labels are attached to each checkpoint along the tour, and the tour monitor includes means for recording consecutive bar code readings along with a time stamp for each reading. At the end of the tour, the recorded list of bar code readings and time stamps can then be transmitted to a report generating computer.
Such tour monitors offer certain advantages, particularly in that the checkpoint labels can be made inconspicuous and inexpensive to attach and the associated reports can be generated in a flexible format that is easy to use. However, tour monitors of the type described above provide few additional operational features for the guard beyond those provided by the original mechanical clock systems.
The present invention is directed to an improved tour monitor and associated programming and report generating system that improve the efficiency with which the tour monitor can be programmed, the efficiency with which the guard or other service individual can use the tour monitor, and the usefulness of reports generated to summarize the monitored tours.